MEN'S BOBCATS DEFEATED BY PITT COMM COLL BULLDOGS 62-55
The 13th ranked Bobcats were on the road Saturday January 24th, and faced a tough conference foe in Pitt Community College. The last meeting between the two teams, saw Bryant & Stratton College come out victorious 82-76. This weekend, however, the Bobcats were not at full strength, as starting guard Marquise Johnson was out with injury and Timothy Hewett went down early in this one with injury. The injuries did not phase them as they knew that their teammates would just need to step up in their place.
The Bobcats got off to a great start leading 15-6 in the early minutes of the contest. The Bulldogs fought back little by little and tied the game at 19 even with 5 minutes remaining in the first half. A 3-pointer by Edward Gordon put the Bobcats back in front. The Halftime score was 27-26 in favor of the visiting Bobcats.
The Bulldogs jumped out in front in the first three minutes of the second half, leading 33-28, before a free throw by A'Kanni White and a tip in by Zachary Johnson brought the Bobcats within two points. With 13 and a half minutes left in the game, the Bobcats found themselves down 41-38 in a hard fought back and forth game. A small run by Pitt was halted when Jaleel Ferguson electrified the crowd and his teammates with a ferocious fast break slam over a Pitt defender to bring the Bobcats within 5 with 12 minutes remaining. The score was 52-50 with just under 5 minutes remaining. The Bobcats trailed by one point with 1:28 left in the contest and after two Pitt free throws it was brought back up to three points with a minute remaining. Two turnovers in the last minute sealed the game as the shorthanded Bobcats were unable to defeat the Bulldogs on their home court with a final score of 62-55. This was a defensive battle as both teams were averaging over 80 points per contest before this matchup.
Jaleel Ferguson led the way for the Bobcats with 10 points and 5 rebounds. Zachary Johnson and A'Kanni White accounted for 10 points each. Cameron Sarutzki-Alston provided some scoring off the bench with 9 points.
(Video, Jaleel Ferguson dunks over Pitt CC defender.)